Imperfect ‘Skylight’ Still Worth Looking Into

The characters in “Skylight” are forever preparing food, yet they can’t seem to sit down together to eat it.

It’s a telling bit of symbolism in David Hare’s 1995 drama about former lovers who want to reconnect yet are unable--or unwilling--to say the things that would allow that to happen. As they talk around their feelings, their wide-ranging conversation touches upon equality, politics, wealth, education, religion, values and more.

It’s all a bit overcooked, and at South Coast Repertory’s smaller Second Stage in Costa Mesa, director Martin Benson and one of his leading actors mess up part of the recipe. Still, the show is worth sampling, particularly if you haven’t seen it so far in London, New York or Los Angeles.

The action takes place in a cramped, cold apartment in a dicey section of northwest London. The 30-ish Kyra Hollis (Cindy Katz) is just home from a day of teaching in another economically depressed section of the city when she receives an unexpected visit from 18-year-old Edward Sergeant (Lars Carlson), followed shortly by a visit from his father, 50-year-old Tom (Martin Jarvis), a wealthy restaurateur.

Kyra has a long-established--and long-neglected--relationship with the father and son, though the exact nature of it is revealed only in dribs and drabs.

Jarvis’ Tom struts about Kyra’s apartment, nosing in her things and generally attempting to take charge. Katz’s Kyra--whose face is an ever-changing canvas of emotions--isn’t about to let him bulldoze her, however.

Gradually, we come to realize that Kyra, who is socially minded, and Tom, who is more self-centered and materialistic, represent more than themselves, and their barely touched mugs of tea and uneaten pasta dinner--symbolic of their inability to nurture each other--are emblematic of society at large.

SCR’s staging is in many ways equal to what director Robert Egan and the phenomenal actors Brian Cox and Laila Robins accomplished at the Mark Taper Forum in the fall of 1997. Yet the show slips in one key area: Director Benson and his leading male player, Jarvis, haven’t been able to find as many moods in Tom as the mercurial Cox did at the Taper. As a result, it’s difficult for us to understand what Kyra ever saw in him or, by extension, the political attitudes that he represents. We’re left a bit hungry, too.

* “Skylight,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. $26-$43. (714) 708-5555. Running time: 2 hours, 22 minutes.

Cindy Katz: Kyra Hollis

Martin Jarvis: Tom Sergeant

Lars Carlson: Edward Sergeant

A South Coast Repertory production. Written by David Hare. Directed by Martin Benson. Set John Iacovelli. Costumes Alex Jaeger. Lights Paulie Jenkins. Stage manager Randall K. Lum.